Exiled: The Tale of Sheln
by TheLetterQ
Summary: A lone gelfling runs for her life.
1. It's Dark

Because it was dark, I could hide from them. 

Because it was dark, they could hide from me.

Thank the Triple Suns that Garthim make that horrifying chatter. It alerted me to there presence, let me know they were coming, told me how near they were as I ran, jumping over logs and ducking through foliage in a panicked effort to lose them. For being so bulky, those bugs were fast.

See? I am not that different from the others, I'm still running from the Garthim and crystal bats just like the rest of them.

I can hear the chatter approaching as I run through the night, the woods are getting thinner, I am going to run out of trees to duck behind.

The chattering crescendos as another one ambushes me from the right. I skid to a stop, millimeters from its clacking pincers and bolt to the left. The obsidian coloured claw darts out to get me and snags my black tunic. I can hear the leathery hide rip as I throw my weight forward in an effort to escape. I stumble, but keep running, kicking up clouds of dry earth into the glowing, unblinking eyes of my pursuers. That was too close. It is a wonder the monstrosity did not catch my wing.

The woods are no more, just sparse trees and shrubs now. There are three after me, their chattering filling my good ear, the other ear laying limply against my head, deaf and useless.

Soon the trees are gone and its bare horizon, I am in a clearing. Damn! They herded me. These things were smarter then they looked.

Or maybe not.

I see a flicker out of the corner of my eye and hear a hissed chatter, not like that of the Garthim. I chance a quick glance to the flicker.

Crystal Bat.

I curse in my tongue. The Skeksis were watching me this whole time.

I did not see it because it was too dark.

I reach into my belt pouch and pull out a ..nut? It would have to do. I hurl it at the flying nuisance.

Missed it.

Again, I reach into the pouch and pull out more nuts, there goes my breakfast. I throw them at the crystal bat and hear its cry as it is hit. It falls to the ground behind me and is soon trampled by the Garthim.

Fitting end.

I look ahead of me and skid to a stop. My toes are on air, the soles of my bare feet clinging to loose earth and I am looking down a cliff, the sound of angry, pounding waves hundreds of feet below me.

And the predators closing in.

I take a closer look at a large plateau of jutting rock below on the cliff side. It is so dark, but I think I can make out-...

CLACK!

I turn out of fright, only to come face to face with terrifying vacant red eyes. I scream as the loose earth gives way from under my feet and I fall.

It's so dark. Black and gray blur pass me as the sound of the waves approach.

The Garthim look about, too stupid to grasp what had just happened. They lumber to the edge and look over, seeing nothing but waves.

Thank the Triple Suns for wings. And I was right: it was the mouth of a cave I saw in the cliff side, I slipped into it. It is so dark.

I make my camp here for the night. I am not far from the tribe at all.

Oh, Creator ...I can hear them ...I can hear the castle crumble under the Garthim's bulk in the distance. I can hear the screaming. The cries. I can feel there deaths. My mind slowly empties. I feel alone as those I have dreamfasted with are slain.

It is dark. It is so dark. Black.

I do not hear the waves anymore, and I do not hear the chattering. All I hear now is silence. I close my eyes.

It's so dark.

Nov 11 '00 1:14 am


	2. Pick up the Bones

Note: The Lyrics are from Alice Cooper's song Pick up the Bones, from the Brutal Planet album.Gelfling, Garthem, Skeksis, and all that belong to the late Jim Henson, however, Sheln and Kyrie belong to me. Do not use them without my permission.

**Pick Up the Bones**

I knew it was not my fault. I knew it was not my fault! We were expecting the Garthim, I just never knew it would look like this.

Part of me was relieved to see so few corpses, no more then a dozen, until I realized that she others must have been taken to the Castle of the Dark Crystal as slaves.

The smell of blood permeated the air, glistening in the light of two of the three suns. It soaked the stone floor, still wet from the night before, crimson, sweet.

_Collecting pieces of my family In an old pillow case_

_This one has a skull But it don't have a face_

_These look like the arms of father so strong_

_And the ring on this finger Means my Grandma is gone_

But that is nothing compared to the bodies. To my right, is a well respected healer, struck down while tending to a dying daughter, a deep gash in her back. Her face frozen in terror and pain. To my left, a young gelfling boy rests peacefully, curled in a little ball, head almost completely severed from his body. Others, gone. All gone.

I feel sick. Closing my eyes to block it out, I fall to my knees. I should have died with them. I should have been here.

Why am I here? Why am I alive? Not only that, but why am I at this place? Why did I come here? What was I hoping to find?

WHY?

"WHY?" I keen in pain to the Suns, grasping my skull, head thrown back, eyes closed to keep out the sunlight, to keep in the tears. "WHY?"

I fall forward, forehead resting against the cold, stone ground, I sob, shivering and holding myself.

I've never felt so alone.

_Here's some legs in a pile where my sister once played_

_Here's some mud made of blood And these teeth are decayed_

_The ear of my brother, The hand of a friend_

_And I just can't Put them back together again_

The one sun is setting by the time I pull myself together. Sitting up, I inhale and wipe the tears from my cheeks. Something inside me detaches, and I just do what must be done.

I gather the bodies, looking about the ruins and rubble for discarded bits of gelfling. I swallow down waves of sickness. It had to be done. Maybe that's why I was spared, to give them peace enough to go into the Next World.

I go all though the castle, gathering any bit of anyone I can find and bringing it to the throne room. I have scoured this place, every crevice, why do I feel my work is not complete?

"Sheln..."

I jolt, my silver eyes wide, my good ear perked and swivelling, listening for any sign of life. Slowly rising to my feet, I pad through the halls of our castle.

I find myself out in our gardens again. nothing is living even here. The Garthem carved up the soil and uprooted every plant, burned every tree. A few stumps continued to smolder, and the air still hung with acrid smoke.

_Pick up the bones And set them on fire_

_Follow the smoke going higher and higher_

_Pick up the bones And wish them goodnight_

_Pray them a prayer and turn out the light_

"Sheln..."

Again I jolt. I know what I heard. I run to a small pile of fallen shrubberies, and fall to my knees, quickly, but cautiously, dissecting the pile.

I uncover a slender, fair skinned hand, three fingers and a thumb, twitching slightly.

Throwing off another bush, I gasp when I find-

"Kyrie.."

Kyrie. My closest friend in life. She always understood me, even when I myself could not. She stood by me through my every hardship. Begged the Queen to reconsider my Exile. My confidant, my partner.

She smiles her rose coloured lips at me weakly. "Sheln...I knew you'd come back..."

_There are stains on the floor Where kitchen once stood_

_There are ribs on the fire place Mixed with the wood_

_There are forces in the air Ghosts in the wind_

_Some bullets in the back And some scars on the skin_

My mouth agape, I turn my eyes to her chest, to find her soft blue dress soaked in blood, a deep gash in her stomach. Her wings lay about her, twisted awkwardly, the gossamer membrane slashed to ribbons. "Kyrie..."

"I know it looks bad, Sheln...but it's alright now."

"No...no... this cannot be happening," my eyes meet her deep brown ones sternly. "I will heal you."

"Sheln," Weakly, she placed her cream coloured hand on my dark grey one, squeezing softly. "This is why you were banished...you were meant to survive. To give us all proper ceremonies. Please Sheln. You've always seen the beauty in passing to the next world... Please... you were meant to give us peace." Kyrie smiled warmly, eyes lidding partially. I could feel her mind link with me weaken. She did not have much longer.

Letting a tear snake down my cheek, I sniffled and nodded. I had to. I could never deprive my one true friend of her last wish.

"It...was good to see you again, Sheln. We will meet again, in the next life...I know it." Her smile seemed to broaden as her mocha eyes drifted closed, and I felt her mind drift away from mine, forever.

"...Goodbye, Kyrie...I will miss you." Caring not for the blood, I held her to me.

_There were demons with guns Who marched through this place_

_Killing everything that breathed They're an inhuman race_

_There are holes in the walls Bloody hair on the bricks_

_And the smell of this hell Is making me sick_

All the deceased were piled in the banquet hall, for that is where we all met each day to feast. Kyrie was placed at the top of the pile, arms crossed peacefully over her chest. With Tears in my eyes. I lit the mound aflame.

As I watched the flames dance upon the lost, my lone voice sang a funeral song, to guide the new travellers to the Next World.

_Pick up the bones And set them on fire_

_Follow the smoke going higher and higher_

_Pick up the bones And wish them goodnight_

_Pray them a prayer and turn out the light_

I let the flames grow, and engulf the banquet hall, then the garden, the fire working its way completely through the castle, purifying the place, burning away the evil that took place here.

_Now maybe someday The suns gonna shine_

_Flowers will bloom And all will be fine_

In my burrow, far from the Lost Castle, I sat at my cauldron, letting its flames light my surroundings. With a few large tablets of soft stone before me, and a chisel, I began to scribe down the evenings events in song and picture.

All records in the Castle were destroyed. Mayhap Kyrie was correct. Maybe the Creator choose me to live, so that the world will not forget.

Thra cannot forget.

_But nothing will grow On this burnt curse-ed ground_

_Cuz the breath of the death Is the only sound_

Oct 26th 3:01am


End file.
